FAA UAS NUAIR Test Site for Sense and Avoid

NUAIR Alliance | Home
The Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR) is a regional alliance of private industry, academic institutions and military assets and operations, working together to establish a Federal Aviation Administration-designated test site for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the Northeast, based in New York and Massachusetts. This site will conduct testing and research in order to begin to safely integrate unmanned vehicles and systems into the National Airspace System.

Fact Sheet – FAA UAS Test Site Program

New York’s Griffiss International Airport.  Griffiss
International plans to work on developing test and evaluation as well as verification and validation processes under FAA safety oversight. The applicant also plans to focus its research on sense and avoid capabilities for UAS and its sites will aid in researching the complexities of integrating UAS into the congested, northeast airspace.

Griffiss/ NUAIR Officials Say FAA Is Doing OK; UAS Test Site Making Significant
Progress Toward First Flight | Northeast Drone News
Chad Lawrence, the highly energetic and affable Deputy Commissioner of Griffiss Airport in Rome, NY attended the two day event, at which approximately 40 to 50 key individuals representing all six test sites met with FAA officials to discuss a wide range of practical considerations related to test-site ramp up.  Lawrence, who could not be a more enthusiastic supporter of the UAS industry, described the meetings as extremely productive, with a highly collaborative spirit among the sites’ representatives.  While details of the meetings were not made public, some of the topics reportedly covered included the process for obtaining Certificates of Authorization (COAs) for test flights, ensuring privacy requirements are met, and how information gathered during test flights will be stored and shared.


Griffiss Airport in Rome selected as national drone test site : News : CNYcentral.com

NUAIR is an alliance of more than 40 private and public entities and academic institutions from across New York and Massachusetts that have partnered to promote Griffiss as an ideal location to conduct testing and research. Officials say NUAIR could generate nearly $700 million in new York and Massachusetts, and more than 4,000 jobs.



Experts explain drone plans at Griffiss
The Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles or UAV will begin testing at Griffiss around April 1. The UAV are going to be used for more of what NUAIR is calling “agricultural” purposes, not for military purposes. Flyterra has already signed on to be the first commercial flyer drones on the base. They will collect wind and weather data, monitor crop growth, and possibly aid mail delivery. It is expected that Flyterra will test their drones for about eight months. Flyterra has been testing drones in airspace around France and Canada since 2012.

DT-18 - UAV for long distances


Delair-Tech UAV will be the first to fly over New York | sUAS News
Only days after Syracuse-based NUAIR won federal designation to operate one of six national test sites for drone aircraft, Delair-Tech is proud to announce that its DT-18 will be the first UAV to fly over New York thanks to its operator and exclusive distributor: FlyTerra LLC.
Delair-Tech manufactures the DT-18 which is the sole civilian UAV to be certified by the French Aviation Authority for Beyond Line of Sight Flight on unlimited distances in France’s civil airspace.


Drones over upstate New York: A look at an FAA test site | Al Jazeera America

‘Stop saying ‘uh-oh’ while you’re flying’: Drone crashes

‘Stop saying ‘uh-oh’ while you’re flying’: Drone crash pilot quotes unveiled - The Washington Post
“This thing’s kind of climbing like a pig. Climb, you pig. . . . Boy, this is going to be tight. . . .  Okay, interesting. We are falling out of the sky.”
Unidentified pilot of a Predator that crashed near Creech Air Force Base in Nevada on May 13, 2013.

When drones fall from the sky | The Washington Post

More than 400 large U.S. military drones have crashed in major accidents around the world since 2001, a record of calamity that exposes the potential dangers of throwing open American skies to drone traffic, according to a year-long Washington Post investigation.

Since the outbreak of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, military drones have malfunctioned in myriad ways, plummeting from the sky because of mechanical breakdowns, human error, bad weather and other reasons, according to more than 50,000 pages of accident investigation reports and other records obtained by The Post under the Freedom of Information Act.

Report: U.S. Military Has Lost More Than 400 UAVs In Accidents | Aero-News Network

Sandia Copperhead Mini-SAR IED Detector proven in JIEDDO tests to Army

mini-SAR on Shadow UAV

Sandia National Laboratories – News Releases – Sandia's MiniSAR offers great promise for reconnaissance and precision-guided weapons
Weighing less than 30 pounds, the miniSAR will be one-fourth the weight and one-tenth the volume of its predecessors currently flying on larger UAVs such as the General Atomics’ Predator. It is the latest design produced by Sandia based on more than 20 years of related research and development.

The new miniSAR will have the same capabilities as its larger cousins. Like the larger class of Sandia SARs, it will be able to take high-resolution (four-inch) images through weather, at night, and in dust storms. The only difference will be range. The larger SAR can produce an image in the 35 kilometer range due to its larger antenna and higher transmitter power, compared to the miniSAR, which is expected to get a range of about 15 kilometers — more than adequate for small UAV applications. SARs are commonly used for military reconnaissance purposes.

IED Detector Developed by Sandia Labs Being Transferred to Army
Synthetic aperture radar helps detect IEDs in all conditions
IEDs explosive detection | Homeland Security News Wire

Newswise — ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Detecting improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan requires constant, intensive monitoring using rugged equipment. When Sandia researchers first demonstrated a modified miniature synthetic aperture radar (MiniSAR) system to do just that,
some experts didn’t believe it.

Sandia researchers, from front to back,
George Sloan, Dale Dubbert, and Armin Doerry, 

But those early doubts are long gone. Sandia’s Copperhead — a highly modified MiniSAR system mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — has been uncovering IEDs in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2009. Now, Sandia is transferring the technology to the U.S. Army to support combat military personnel, said Sandia senior manager Jim Hudgens.


The technology was developed with

• the Defense Department’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO); 
• the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center/Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL); 
• the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR); 
• Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory; 
• the Naval Research Laboratory; and 
• Florida-based force protection company AIRSCAN.

Mini-SAR datasheet

Sandia Labs' drones help seek explosives | New Mexico News Video - KOAT Home

transcript of video of news broadcast:
THE NUMBER OF I-E-D'S DETONATING IN AFGHANISTAN, IS ON THE DECLINE. BUT THE DEVICES STILL ACCOUNTED FOR 60-PERCENT OF ALL U-S CASUALTIES THERE, IN 2012. NOW, NEW TECHNOLOGY OUT OF THE SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES LOOKS TO DROP THOSE NUMBERS EVEN FURTHER AND SAVE LIVES.
KOAT ACTION 7 NEWS REPORTER MIKE SPRINGER SHOWS YOU HOW IT WORKS. FLYING HIGH IN THE SKY THESE UNMANNED AIRCRAFTS BETTER KNOWN AS DRONES ARE HELPING TO SEEK OUT AND DESTROY IEDS. IT'S KNOWN AS COPPERHEAD SYSTEM.
It's light weight, low powered and still does a very important job in finding improvised explosive devices.
IT'S BEING DEVELOPED RIGHT HERE IN NEW MEXICO AT THE SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES. THEY USE MODIFIED MINIATURE SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR-OR MINISAR FOR SHORT TO FIND AND LOCATE DEVICES BURIED IN THE GROUND.
So the way it works it the aircraft will fly over an area twice and send the images back to crews on the ground who can notice changes as small as a change of soda. You can see tracks of vehicles and things like that and so that helps us find disturbances associated with maybe digging an ied into the ground or maybe finding an ied.
THE TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN IN PLACE SINCE 2009. BUT FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE ARMY WILL TAKE CONTROL OF IT. SOMETHING RESEARCHERS EXPECT TO HAPPEN BY THE FIRST OF THE YEAR. RESEARCHERS ESTIMATE THE DEVICE HAS HELPED SAVE HUNDREDS OF LIVES SO FAR. DOUG AND SHELLY, BACK TO YOU RESEARCHERS SAY, IT CAN TAKE READINGS FROM MORE THAN 10 THOUSAND FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL. THE RADAR DEVICE ITSELF, WEIGHS ABOUT 70 POUNDS.

Read more: http://www.koat.com/news/sandia-labs-drones-help-seek-explosives/26734860#ixzz36SVRoquN

Australian DSTO has published a good paper on CCD for SAR.
Coherent Change Detection: Theoretical Description and Experimental Results - DSTO-TR-1851 PR.pdf

US Army places JLENS Aerostat radar in strategic readiness

Tethered Aerostats
Specifications:

			71M (TARS, JLENS)
Length			71 m (233 ft)
Volume			16700 m3 (590000 ft3)
Payload			2300 kg (5000 lb)
Ceiling			4600 m (15000 ft)
Endurance			30 days

 Raytheon JLENS | Info, Aerostats, Budget/Costs, Specs Networks with Navy CEC
In June 2012, a series of tests demonstrated that JLENS is capable of detecting and tracking multiple high-speed "swarming" boats from hundreds of miles away. In September 2012, during a joint Army and Navy test, a JLENS fire-control radar acquired and tracked a surrogate anti-ship cruise missile target. The tracking information was passed to sailors via the Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) sensor-netting system. The sailors then fired a Standard Missile SM-6 at the target. Initial SM-6 guidance used targeting information provided by the JLENS via CEC to the AEGIS BMD combat system until the missile's onboard radar was able to acquire and track the target.

EPIC - EPIC v. Army - Surveillance Blimps
On November 1, 2013, EPIC filed a FOIA request with the Department of the Army for records related to a blimp-mounted surveillance system called "JLENS" (Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor Systems). The JLENS system, manufactured by the defense contractor Raytheon, consists of a two-part system. The first part supports persistent, 360-degree radar-based surveillance over hundreds of miles. The other part is mounted with HELLFIRE missiles capable of firing at targets being tracked by the radar surveillance system. Raytheon describes JLENS as "two tethered, 74-meter helium-filled aerostats connected to mobile mooring stations and a communications and processing group. The aerostats fly as high as 10,000 feet above sea level and can remain aloft and operational for up to 30 days. One aerostat carries a surveillance radar with 360-degree surveillance capability; the other aerostat carries a fire control radar.”

Additionally, Raytheon has successfully tested JLENS' ability to support additional surveillance equipment in the form of a live video feed. JLENS operators can observe surface moving targets in real time using a Raytheon Company MTS-B Multi-Spectral Targeting System - a “long-range surveillance, target acquisition, tracking, range-finding and laser designation for the HELLFIRE missile and all tri-service and NATO laser-guided munitions."

The Army plans to test the surveillance capabilities of the JLENS system by surveilling the Washington, D.C. area for three years. The Army's test is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2014.

Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor [JLENS]
The Joint Land-Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) consists of an aerostat with radars to provide over-the-horizon surveillance for defense against cruise missiles. JLENS is primarily intended to tackle the growing threat of cruise missiles to US forces deployed abroad. The system enhances cruise missile detection and engagement ranges with current air defense weapons such as PATRIOT, Navy SM-2 missile, the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, and ultimately the Medium Extended Air Defense System and the Corps Surface-to-Air Missile System.

CMDS JLENS Home

US Army places blimp-borne radar in strategic readiness
Should the U.S. or its allies need enhanced protection against cruise missiles, hostile airplanes, sea-borne threats or unmanned aircraft, military commanders will have a new system at their disposal.  Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has finished preparing a blimp-borne radar system previously used for testing, for use as a rapidly deployable strategic asset.

JLENS: Co-ordinating Cruise Missile Defense – And More
JLENS is a powerful airborne radar system that floats at altitudes as high as 10,000 feet, suspended from two 80-yard long, helium-filled blimp-like aerostats which are tethered to ground stations via a rugged cable.  It helps defend critical assets, population centers and infrastructures against a variety of threats, such as manned- and unmanned- aircraft and missiles.

U.S. Army Places Blimp-Borne Radar In Strategic Readiness | Aero-News Network

JLENS - SAR - 31 DEC 2011.pdf

U.S. Army Will Evaluate JLENS Over Mid-Atlantic Region | Aviation International News

Missile-defense blimps to sail above Harford, but not for spy purposes, officials say - baltimoresun.com

Massive blimps over Maryland to conduct 24/7 domestic aerial surveillance | Computerworld Blogs

JLENS: Blimp Battle Continues With Letter From Rep. Robert Andrews « Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary

 

Exelis VMAT & MobileVue ADS-B selected by SFO Airport

Exelis airport ground vehicle and aircraft surveillance solutions sele
Exelis to provide surveillance solutions to San Francisco Airport - Airport Technology

Exelis (NYSE: XLS) has been selected by San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to provide its airport ground vehicle and aircraft surveillance solutions to enhance airport surface safety and efficiency. Exelis, a global leader in providing critical network solutions, will provide SFO with its Symphony® vehicle movement area transponder (VMAT) and Symphony® MobileVue™ solutions.

VMAT transmits position and uniquely identifiable call sign information for ground vehicles operating on the airport surface. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic controllers, airport personnel and aircraft pilots can view and track the VMAT-equipped vehicles. They can also track aircraft operating near the airport and on its surface, providing a complete picture of airport surface activity. Five initial VMAT units have been deployed at SFO, with another 80 to be deployed this summer.

Read more: http://www.asdnews.com/news

MIT Research shows Patent Trolls Kill Venture Capital for High Tech Innovation

MIT Study Says Patent Trolls Kill Innovation | EE Times

Research done by Catherine Tucker, associate professor of Management Science at MIT Sloan School of Management, shows clearly that excessive litigation brought by PAEs has slowed the rate of investment in innovation, especially in technology companies.
The Effect of Patent Litigation and Patent Assertion Entities on Entrepreneurial Activity by Catherine Tucker :: SSRN

Catherine Tucker

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Management Science (MS)

June 22, 2014
Abstract:     

This paper empirically investigates the statistical relation between levels of patent litigation and venture capital ("VC") investment in the U.S. We find that VC investment, a major funding source for entrepreneurial activity, initially increases with the number of litigated patents, but that there is a "tipping point" where further increases in the number of patents litigated are associated with decreased VC investment, which suggests an inverted U-shaped relation between patent litigation and VC investment. This appears strongest for technology patents, and negligible for products such as pharmaceuticals. There is some evidence of a similar inverted U-shaped relation between patent litigation and the creation of new small firms. Strikingly, we find evidence that litigation by frequent patent litigators, a proxy for PAE litigation, is directly associated with decreased VC investment with no positive effects initially.

 

Number of Pages in PDF File: 42
Keywords: Intellectual Property, Patents, Patent Assertion Entities, Patent Litigation, Patent Trolls, Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital
JEL Classification: K41, M20
working papers series

High Efficiency Video Coding FileConverter 4K FC4000

File Conversion Software for High Efficiency Video Coding FileConverter 4K FC4000
FileConverter 4K FC4000 | NTT-AT
Data Sheet

Video traffic on the internet continues to increase and HEVC (high efficiency video coding) has garnered a lot of attention as a result. NTT-AT’s FileConverter 4K is a file conversion software specifically designed to work with HEVC. It can work with a variety of input file formats like AVI and Windows Media for the PC, and HDV files for broadcasting. The output files are H.264 and H.265 file types for higher quality. Requires a USB dongle.

Amazon offering 30+ paid apps for free

Amazon’s “Epic Summer App Bundle” offering 30+ paid apps for free - Android Community

Amazon giving away $100 worth of Android apps through Saturday midnight

A lot of games, but here's a list of useful apps that Amazon gives for free:

• 2Do: Todo List | Task List
• aCalendar+
• AccuWeather Platinum
• Business Calendar
• EZ Money Manager
• Informant 3
• Jump Desktop (RDP & VNC)
• MobiLearn Talking Phrasebook, English-French-German-Italian-Spanish
• MyBackup Pro
• Notepad+
• Pho.to Lab PRO
• Plex
• Splashtop Remote Desktop HD
• Travel Interpreter

Netherlands prepare for Autonomous Trucks

Dutch Trucks Will Drive Themselves - IEEE Spectrum

Dutch Unveil Five-Year Plan for Self-Driving Trucks : Auto News : Auto World News

The Netherlands has just announced a five-year plan to make the country safe for autonomous vehicles and vice-versa, with a particular emphasis on trucks. Rules of the road will be redrafted, infrastructure built, and research funded.

The Dutch government says that the first tests will be simple computer simulations. The first road tests will involve truck convoys, perhaps putting just the lead vehicle under the control of a human driver. That test will be conducted by a research  consortium  including

•  DAF, a Dutch truckmaker, 
• the Port of Rotterdam and
• Transport & Logistiek Nederland. 

"The consortium wants to test autonomous lorries that drive in convoys. The aim of the consortium is, within five years, to bring technology onto the market that logistics companies with such lorries can use to drive on public roads."

DOJ Releases Barron Memo Justifying Drone Strike On Al-Awlaki

DOJ Releases Memo Justifying Drone Strike On U... by NewsyVideos

New York court releases government memo justifying drone killing of American citizen — RT USA
The 41-page memorandum was published along with the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruling from Tuesday in which it was ordered that the controversial document finally be disclosed. The memo itself was originally authored by David J. Barron, the acting assistant attorney general at the time it was given to Mr. Holder two months before a US drone fired a Hellfire missile to kill Al-Awlaki in the town of Al-Jawf Governorate, Yemen.

According to a cursory analysis by Reuters published moments after the memo’s release, the document shows that the Office of Legal Counsel at the DOJ believed Al-Awlaki could be killed given his suspected standing as an “operational leader” of an “enemy force,” and therefore could be targeted “as part of the United States' ongoing non-international armed conflict with Al-Qaeda.”
 
▶ DOJ Releases Memo Justifying Drone Strike On U.S. Citizen - Video Dailymotion
The secret memo containing the legal justification for the drone strike on U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki was made public Monday.

Court releases DOJ memo justifying drone strike on US citizen | TheHill
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Monday released a secret 2010 Justice Department memo justifying the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen killed in a drone strike in 2011. The court released the document as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by The New York Times and the American Civil Liberties Union to make the document public.
Then-acting Assistant Attorney General David Barron, in the partially redacted 41-page memo, outlines the justification of the drone strike in Yemen to take out al-Awlaki, an alleged operational leader of al Qaeda. Barron wrote that al-Awlaki had taken up arms against his country, and it was necessary to take him out with a drone because he could have caused his nation harm.

Read more: http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/210240-court-releases-justice-department-memo-justifying-drone-strike#ixzz35hqCUmfM
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

U.S. Seeks to Censor More of Memo That Approved Drone Strike on American - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — One week after the Obama administration said it would comply with a federal appeals court ruling ordering it to make public portions of a Justice Department memo that signed off on the targeted killing of a United States citizen, the administration is now asking the court for permission to censor additional passages of the document.

In the interim, the Senate voted narrowly last week to confirm David Barron, the former Justice Department official who was the memo’s principal author, to an appeals court judgeship. At least one Democratic senator who had opposed Mr. Barron over the secrecy surrounding his memo voted for him after the administration said it would release it.

DU2SRI Miniature radar may give SUAS sense and avoid

Miniature radar may put UAVs in the air -- GCN
Researchers at the University of Denver’s Unmanned Systems Research Institute may have the answer.  The group has developed a phased-array radar system that weighs only 12 ounces and is small enough to fit in the palm of one’s hand.

The technology was licensed in April to Integrated Robotics Imaging Systems in Kenai, Alaska, which will be testing it on its Infotron IT180, a French-made, dual-rotor unmanned platform.

  

Published on Jan 10, 2014

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), are under the group of Unmanned Autonomous Systems (UAS), Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs), and Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs). Dr. Valavanis and his research team at the Unmanned Systems Research Institute (DU²SRI) researches these autonomous vehicles to create, coordinate, and promote research in building the next generation of unmanned systems in general and UAS in particular that will be used for a wide spectrum of civil/public domain applications. This group 

• Functions as the focal point within the State of Colorado for basic and applied research and development activities in unmanned systems. It serves as a demo site for unmanned vehicles; 
• Provides the foundations for technology transfer to the private sector; 
• Contributes to paving the way towards gradual integration of UAS into the National Airspace System (NAS), also assisting third parties to obtain Certificates of Authorization (COA) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); 
• Participates in State-wide UAS research and development initiatives offering its know-how and expertise; 
• Assists in economic development and creation of new jobs by graduating the next generation of highly skilled scientists and engineers, ready to compete in a very demanding global market; 
• Bridges the gap between military and civilian application domains.

According to Dr. Matthew J Rutherford, assistant professor of computer science and deputy director of the Unmanned Systems Research Institute, the team wanted to develop a radar-based solution because radar offers several advantages over the two other technologies – optical camera-based systems and transponder systems – that have been under development for sense-and-avoid systems.

The team built everything from scratch except the antenna – digital signal processor, circuit boards and the software.  “In our field tests we were able to detect and identify targets of the size roughly equivalent to UAV at about 100 meters or 300 feet,” Dr. Matt Rutherford noted, and added that the team is continuing to work on increasing the range of the unit.

Moses 2a Radar - CWFSK Mono-pulse 5 Watt

Moses Dissertation - RADAR Based Collision Avoidance for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have become increasingly prevalent and will represent an increasing percentage of all aviation. These unmanned aircraft are available in a wide range of sizes and capabilities and can be used for a multitude of civilian and military applications. However, as the number of UAS increases so does the risk of mid-air collisions involving unmanned aircraft. This dissertation aims to present one possible solution for addressing the mid-air collision problem in addition to increasing the levels of autonomy of UAS beyond waypoint navigation to include preemptive sensor-based collision avoidance. The presented research goes beyond the current state of the art by demonstrating the feasibility and providing an example of a scalable, self-contained, RADAR-based, collision avoidance system. The technology described herein can be made suitable for use on a miniature (Maximum Takeoff Weight & lt; 10kg) UAS platform. This is of paramount importance as the miniature UAS eld has the lowest barriers to entry (acquisition and operating costs) and consequently represents the most rapidly increasing class of UAS

 

Blitzer Railgun Land-Based Combat Simulation

GA-EMS Railgun Systems

Railguns deliver muzzle velocities up to twice those of conventional guns, resulting in shorter time to target and higher lethality at greater range with no propellant required onboard the platform. Railguns offer much deeper magazines and lower cost per engagement compared with missiles of comparable range.

• Shorter time to the target and extended range
• Lethality without high explosives
• Multi-mission capability
• Elimination of propellant – smaller rounds, enabling many more stowed rounds,  improved safety and reduced logistics burden.
• Lower cost –  than current assets for integrated air and missile defense.
• Higher fire power 
• Reduced Asymmetry

▶ General Atomics - Blitzer Railgun Land-Based Combat Simulation [360p] - YouTube

Published on Jun 22, 2014

Because of its scalability and modularity, the land-based mobile Blitzer railgun system can be configured in a stand-alone caravan for mobility on the battlefield. Transported by existing military vehicles, Blitzer can defend against missiles and enemy launchers.

It integrates into existing BMC2 and radar systems, tracking multiple inbound threats, establishing a firm track for fire control handover. Outbound projectiles are tracked and guided to compute the fire control solution from organic radar sensor data to assure maximum firepower. Each round receives guidance data during flight, allowing the warhead to deploy at the optimum time. By adjusting flight trajectories, enemy targets can be eliminated by several simultaneous impacts.

Blitzer railguns provide a game-changing, multi-mission solution, with reduced operation and support costs due to elimination of propellant and the associated logistics tail.

General Atomics Blitzer Railgun! | Military.com

'The U.S. Submarine force's most important body of water': Navy submarine base is in land-locked Idaho

Lake Pend Oreille provides a deep (1150 ft), quiet body of water with a free-field ocean-like environment

'The U.S. Submarine force's most important body of water': Secret Navy submarine base is in land-locked Idaho | Mail Online

The U.S. Navy's submarine bases are some of the most high-security installations in the world, but one of the most important is located at a lake in landlocked Idaho. The Navy's Acoustic Research Detachment (ARD) at Bayview, Idaho, has supported every major submarine design development of the last 65 years.

Although located some 375 miles from the ocean, it has been called ‘the U.S. Submarine force's most important body of water" by Admiral Edmund Giambastiani, who once headed the Navy's submarine warfare group.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2658459/The-U-S-Submarine-forces-important-body-water-Secret-Navy-submarine-base-land-locked-Idaho.html#ixzz35W7lOGJ7
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Lake Pend Oreille provides a deep (1150 ft), quiet body of water where a free-field ocean-like environment is available without the attendant problems and costs of open ocean operations. Unique experimental hardware and floating platforms have been developed to support a wide variety of R&D programs ranging from the measurement of flow induced boundary layer fluctuations on sonar domes to the calibrations of full-scale surface ship sonar transducers. Detachment personnel supporting the experiments form a versatile resident core of highly skilled labor. They work closely with transient project scientists, engineers and technicians from the Division and other Navy and private organizations, to plan and conduct operations on the lake.

The results obtained during past experiments have been extremely valuable to the Navy, especially in the area of submarine sonar dome development. Future plans include continuation of sonar dome development and submarine silencing and target strength reduction experiments using large-scaled models, as well as increased emphasis on propulsor noise reduction. The Large Scale Vehicle (LSV), a large-scale structural model of the SSN-21 Class submarine, which was delivered to Bayview in November 1987, is being used extensively in this research work. The site's technical programs typically support analytical efforts at the NSWCCD and contribute to the development of advanced submarine and sonar designs. These programs support the Fleet, Navy systems commands, and other defense agencies. The facilities also support private industry and research efforts of the United Kingdom.

Idaho Submarines
One of 10, 1/4th scale model submarines moored at the  Navy's Acoustic Research Detachment in Bayview, Idaho.  The Naval Surface Warefare Center's test facility on Lake Pend Oreille in Northern Idaho, is the only of its kind in the world
 Model submarines, actually — up to 88 feet  long.

Peh Group at MIT demos SCORPIO 36 core multi processor architecture @ ISCA

Researchers unveil experimental 36-core chip | MIT News Office
MIT creates 36-core processor powered by a mini internet - Neowin

The more cores — or processing units — a computer chip has, the bigger the problem of communication between cores becomes. For years, Li-Shiuan Peh, the Singapore Research Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, has argued that the massively multicore chips of the future will need to resemble little Internets, where each core has an associated router, and data travels between cores in packets of fixed size.

This week, at the International Symposium on Computer Architecture, Peh’s group unveiled a 36-core chip that features just such a“network-on-chip.” In addition to implementing many of the group’s earlier ideas, it also solves one of the problems that has bedeviled previous attempts to design networks-on-chip: maintaining cache coherence, or ensuring that cores’ locally stored copies of globally accessible data remain up to date.

SCORPIO: A 36-Core Research Chip Demonstrating ...  Snoopy Coherence on a Scalable Mesh NoC with In-Network Ordering

Bhavya K. Daya, Chia-Hsin Owen Chen, Suvinay Subramanian, Woo-Cheol Kwon,
Sunghyun Park, Tushar Krishna, Jim Holt, Anantha P. Chandrakasan,
Li-Shiuan Peh (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

http://projects.csail.mit.edu/wiki/pub/LSPgroup/PublicationList/scorpio_isca2014.pdf 

"Full-system 36 and 64-core simulations on SPLASH-2 and PARSECbenchmarks show  an average application run-time reduction of 24.1% and 12.9%, in comparison to  distributed directory and AMD HyperTransport coherence protocols, respectively."

Ordered Mesh Network Interconnect - DSpace@MIT

by S Subramanian - ‎2013 - ‎Related articles

a scalable coherence mechanism is imperative for these systems. ... totype developed at MIT - a 36-core chip multi-processor supporting snoopy coherence, ... teacher, be it discussing concepts, reviewing code or bouncing-off research ideas. ..... network for the SCORPIO chip - referred to as OMNI (Ordered Mesh Network ...

WebHome < LSPgroup < Foswiki

The LSP research group is focused on research related to interconnection networks and mobile networks.

ISCA Review #3: SCORPIO: A 36-Core Research Chip Demonstrating Snoopy Coherence on a Scalable Mesh NoC with In-Network Ordering | High-Performance Computing (HPC) Guy

DARPA-Navy Agreement to Develop Tern Concept

DARPA-Navy Agreement to Develop Tern Concept
DARPA Awards Five Contracts for the Evaluation of TERN Naval UAS | Defense Update:
2014/06/11 DARPA-Navy Agreement to Develop Tern Concept

DARPA and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on a joint DARPA/Navy research and development program called "Tern." This joint effort builds upon the existing work of DARPA's Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node program, or "TERN," which has been exploring concepts for a long-endurance and long-range aircraft that would operate from a variety of Navy ships.

Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN)
In March 2013, DARPA announced the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN), a program designed to deploy a fixed-wing, medium-altitude, long- endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial system at sea from small U.S. Navy combatants. Technical objectives of the program include:

• Developing a launch and recovery technique to enable large aircraft operations from smaller ships, even in rough seas.
• Designing an aircraft compatible with the maritime environment with range and payload performance comparable to emerging land-based UAS.
• Ensuring the system can operate with minimal manning and shipboard modifications
• Packaging the system to fit into the limited space aboard ships such as the LCS-2 Independence Class.

DARPA intends to develop TERN over a forty month period, with three phases: I) Conceptual System Definition; II) Technical Maturation Phase; and III) Demonstration Phase, to include a full-scale launch and recovery demonstration.

US Navy Surface Force Moves to Offensive Action

,

US Navy Moves from Defensive to Offensive: 

Op-Ed by Rear Admiral Thomas S. Rowden, USN, Director, Surface Warfare (N96) Chief of Naval Operations

Jim Kilby

Captain Jim Kilby started laying out our vision for the future direction of surface warfare with “Surface Warfare: Lynchpin of Naval Integrated Air/Missile Defense”, 

 (Navy Capt. James W. Kilby, nominated for appointment to the rank of rear admiral (lower half). Kilby is currently serving as deputy for ballistic missile defense, AEGIS, Destroyers and Future Surface Combatants, N96F, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.)

and 

Captain Charlie Williams followed up with 

“Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) – The Heart of Surface Warfare” 

and 

“Increasing Lethality in Anti-Surface Warfare (ASUW)”. 

(Navy Capt. Charles F. Williams, nominated for appointment to the rank of rear admiral (lower half). Williams is currently serving as deputy for surface ship systems weapons and sensors, N96C, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.) 

Together with our continuing mastery of land attack and maritime security operations, the three operational thrusts they describe a Surface Force that is moving from a primarily defensive posture to one on the offense. This is an exciting development, and I want to spend a few paragraphs reinforcing their messages.

Surface Warfare must “go on the offensive” in order to enable future power projection operations. I call this “offensive sea control” and it takes into consideration that in future conflict, we may have to fight to get forward, fight through our own lines, and then fight to stay forward. Pieces of ocean will come to be seen as strategic, like islands and ports, and we will offensively “seize” these maritime operating areas to enable further offensive operations. Put another way, no one viewed the amphibious landings in the Pacific in WWII as “defensive”; there was broad understanding that their seizure was offensive and tied to further offensive objectives. It is now so with the manner in which we will exercise sea control.

What does this mean to fleet sailors? We need to master the technology that is coming to the fleet—

• Navy Integrated Fire Control (Counter Air), or NIFC-CA; 
• the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR); 
• the SQQ-89 A(V)15 ASW Combat System; 
• the LCS ASW Mission Module; 
• the introduction of the Griffin missile in the PC class; 
• new classes of Standard Missiles; 
• Rail Gun; 
• Directed Energy. 

We will need to use these systems and then do what sailors always do—figure out ways to employ them that the designers never considered.

Is Amazon's Fire phone a game changer or big ho hum?

Is Amazon's Fire phone a game changer?
Yesterday, Amazon announced its first smartphone (simply called the Fire phone), and we were wondering if it could be considered a game changer. As you may know, one of the novelties that the handset offers is Firefly - Amazon’s new software-based service that uses the phone’s rear camera to recognize an impressive number of items (more than 100 million). After Firefly recognizes an item, it provides info about it, and allows you to instantly buy it. Having an Amazon Fire phone in your pocket means that you always have a pretty powerful shopping machine at your fingertips (which, let’s face it, isn’t necessarily a good thing for your bank account).

Amazon's Fire Phone Is A Killer Shopping App
Amazon’s new Fire Phone is less a phone than it is a killer app, one that will more completely tether shoppers to the retail site.
Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled the device in a much hyped event. And now, one day later, there is much to talk about particularly when it comes to home the phone will impact retail.
Mobile is the fastest growing component in retail. More shoppers are accessing product information, researching purchases and using devices to access discounts. Nearly one third of shoppers now exclusively use mobile to research products before they buy.

Amazon Fire Phone Preview - CNET
From afar, Amazon's Fire Phone doesn't give us anything we haven't seen before. In fact, it looks a lot like other black smartphones: a Gorilla Glass (3) front and back, rubber-rimmed sides, chamfered edges, and a physical home button. There's a physical camera button as well, which launches both the camera and Firefly, Amazon's new scanning-and-shopping app.
Look closer, and the phone's five front-facing camera lenses peer back at you. Four of these, one in each corner, are infrared eyes that work in service to all the 3D and motion effects. But there's one front-facing camera, too, for selfies.
At the launch event, Amazon emphasized the importance of operating the phone one-handed, and the rubberized spines definitely do that. The corners felt a little sharp where the back of the Fire Phone meets its spines, but the slick glass backing does add a subtle premium feel. Still, the Fire Phone doesn't scream "luxury craftsmanship" the way Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos would have you believe when touting touches like steel connectors to prevent USB wobble, magnetic headphones (which we didn't see in our demo), and Dolby Digital Plus virtual surround sound, which we didn't get a chance to hear.

4 Reasons The Amazon Fire Phone Will Fail
Much to the chagrin of CEO Jeff Bezos, it didn’t take long for consumers to voice harsh criticisms on Amazon’s first smartphone, unveiled this Wednesday. From “being 7-years late” – it’s rumored to have been in development for 5-years! – to “I can already access all the Amazon services from my smartphone,” or “how is it really different,” the Amazon Fire Phone is definitely lacking a “wow factor,”  failing to capture the imagination of the general public. So why so much skepticism?
Well, here are 4 main reasons for that:

1. High price. At $650 without contract, 
2. Bulky and heavy.
3. Lack of differentiation.
   3D-like dynamic perspective, a nice power-hungry gimmick,
   Firefly, an app – that could end up in other smartphones.
4. Fewer applications. App Store has some 240,000 apps, compared to more than 1.2 million apps in Google Play or Apple's AAPL -0.35% App Store.

Amazon’s Master Of Commerce Move Into The Phone Game | TechCrunch
Mobile is so 2010. So why would Amazon throw its hat into the game of phones?
That’s the thing — it didn’t. The company is headed into battle in two other markets full of potential: real-world commerce and digital advertising.

Amazon Fire Phone vs. LG G3: Spec Showdown | Digital Trends
Since Amazon hopes to gain ground in the smartphone market, we’ve decided to throw it up against some of the best smartphones around. So how does the Amazon Fire Phone stack up against LG’s upcoming G3 phone? Take a look at our side-by-side spec comparison to find out.

Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/amazons-fire-phone-vs-lg-g3/#ixzz35Zroax2q
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